Wednesday, January 22, 2025

Azure AD B2C vs Microsoft Entra: Key Differences

Azure AD B2C vs Microsoft Entra: Key Differences

When building secure and scalable applications, choosing the right identity platform is crucial. Two popular offerings from Microsoft, Azure Active Directory B2C (Azure AD B2C) and Microsoft Entra, serve different purposes. Let’s dive into their differences to help you decide which one fits your needs.

What is Azure AD B2C?

Azure Active Directory B2C (Business-to-Consumer) is an identity management service tailored for customer-facing applications. It enables developers to authenticate users with social accounts or custom credentials, offering a seamless user experience.

Key Features of Azure AD B2C:

  • Customizable user flows for login, registration, and password reset.
  • Integration with social identity providers like Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
  • Support for multi-factor authentication (MFA).
  • Branding options for tailored user experiences.

What is Microsoft Entra?

Microsoft Entra is a suite of identity and access management solutions that includes Azure AD. It focuses on securing access to resources across enterprises, ensuring zero-trust principles, and managing identities for employees, partners, and systems.

Key Features of Microsoft Entra:

  • Enterprise-grade identity management for employees and partners.
  • Integration with hybrid cloud environments.
  • Advanced security features like conditional access and identity protection.
  • Support for seamless single sign-on (SSO).

Azure AD B2C vs Microsoft Entra: A Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Azure AD B2C Microsoft Entra
Target Audience External customers Enterprise employees and partners
Authentication Options Social and local accounts Enterprise credentials
Use Case Customer-facing apps Enterprise resource access
Custom Branding Extensive support Limited

Which One Should You Choose?

If your primary focus is on creating customer-facing applications with customizable user experiences, Azure AD B2C is the right choice. However, if your goal is to manage enterprise identities and secure access to corporate resources, Microsoft Entra is more suitable.

© 2025 Cloud Identity Insights. All rights reserved.

No comments :